NetTact Desktop

NetTact Desktop is the all-in-one edition for homes and small businesses. It combines the NetTact Lite server, monitoring agent, and system tray or menu-bar application in one program. It requires no command-line setup, separate server deployment, or manually issued agent enrollment token.

The console opens in your system's default browser. Desktop does not embed Chromium, WebView2, or Electron. Closing the browser does not stop monitoring; use Exit from the tray or menu-bar menu to stop the application.

Download the latest version

These stable URLs always point to the most recently published successful Desktop release. The download mirror retains only the latest version.

Platform	Download	SHA-256
Windows x64 (MSI installer)	nettact-desktop-windows-amd64.msi	checksum file
macOS 12+ (universal Apple Silicon + Intel)	nettact-desktop-macos-universal.zip	checksum file

latest.json provides the current version, publication time, and platform download URLs for scripts and other automation.

The current builds are not production code-signed

The Windows build is not Authenticode-signed. The macOS application is ad-hoc signed and not notarized. SmartScreen or Gatekeeper may therefore display a warning. Download only from the d.nettact.org links on this page and verify the SHA-256 checksum before running the application.

Windows installation and first launch

1. Download the Windows MSI and its .sha256 file.
2. Double-click nettact-desktop-windows-amd64.msi and follow the installer. It installs for all users under C:\Program Files\NetTact and creates Start menu and desktop shortcuts.
3. If SmartScreen displays a warning, verify the download domain and SHA-256, then choose More info → Run anyway.
4. The application appears in the system tray and opens the local console in your default browser.

Calculate the SHA-256 hash in PowerShell:

(Get-FileHash .\nettact-desktop-windows-amd64.msi -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()
Get-Content .\nettact-desktop-windows-amd64.msi.sha256

The hashes printed by the two commands must match.

macOS installation and first launch

1. Download the macOS ZIP and its .sha256 file.
2. Extract it and move NetTact.app into Applications.
3. Try to open the application once.
4. On macOS 14 and earlier, right-click the application and select Open → Open.
5. On macOS 15 and later, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and select Open Anyway.

Alternatively, remove the quarantine attribute in Terminal:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/NetTact.app

Verify the download:

shasum -a 256 -c nettact-desktop-macos-universal.zip.sha256

NetTact is a menu-bar application on macOS and has no Dock icon. Select Open console from its menu-bar menu.

How it runs

On launch, Desktop:

1. creates the current user's data directory and rotating log;
2. starts the bundled server on 127.0.0.1:12450;
3. starts the bundled agent and enrolls it locally;
4. opens the console in the default browser through a one-time login URL; and
5. remains in the system tray or menu bar while monitoring continues.

On its first start, the bundled server needs internet access to download the matching web-console assets. By default, the server listens only on the loopback address and does not expose the console to the LAN. This changes only if you explicitly change the listen address in the console.

The Start at login option starts Desktop silently with the operating system, without opening a browser during sign-in. Click the tray icon or select Open console from the menu-bar menu whenever you want to reopen it.

Data location and removal

Desktop stores its database, agent identity, send buffer, and logs under:

• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\NetTact
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/NetTact

Upgrades and reinstalls continue to use this data. Removing the application alone does not delete monitoring data. To remove everything, exit NetTact and then delete the corresponding data directory.

For a server, NAS, or multi-device setup with separately deployed servers and agents, use the Docker Compose deployment guide instead.